Working from home suggestions

[Geekman]

I don't come into this section very much, but I know there's a lot of very knowledgeable and experienced people on here, so I'm hoping you may be able to give me some suggestions and advice.

I'm from the UK and have recently moved to Mexico with my Mexican girlfriend, after spending the last couple of years working in the South of France. My initial plan was to spend my first 6-8 months out here not working at all; instead concentrating on learning Spanish. My girlfriend works and has her own place out here, plus I have decent savings so there's no need for me to get a job straight away.

However, I'm finding that I still end up with 30-35 hours per week at home not doing very much and as I'm a bit of a workaholic it seems a shame to sit around not being productive. Even when I was studying for my BA, I worked from home as an area manager for a retail auditing company, so I guess I've got used to doing a lot with my time.

I have experience in sales, management, project planning and teaching as well as the usual Microsoft Office type skills you'd expect anyone to have. I'm also fluent in French and have a degree from a good university.

I've spent the last couple of weeks searching for UK based jobs which I can do online but haven't had very much luck: most of them seem to require weekly office visits which obviously isn't practical in my position, or offer "salaries" based on projected commission which they can't provide any actual figures for.

I'm not expecting to walk into a £30k p/a job: I'm really not bothered by the financial aspect at all as that's not my aim, but it seems a shame that so many office tasks can easily be performed remotely, and yet so few companies are willing to allow it.

Any suggestions for particular sectors I should look into, or perhaps techniques to use when applying for remote working jobs would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[rog007]

Three things came immediately to mind when reading your post: if you don’t need the money, could you not just support a local voluntary organisation using your skills; teach English locally; or seek out the British Embassy/local consulate/British Networking Group as they may be able to signpost you.

Good luck!

[Geekman]

rog007 said:

Three things came immediately to mind when reading your post: if you don’t need the money, could you not just support a local voluntary organisation using your skills; teach English locally; or seek out the British Embassy/local consulate/British Networking Group as they may be able to signpost you.

Good luck!

Great suggestions - thanks. I suspect I’d struggle with the voluntary organisations around here due to my lack of Spanish. I’ve emailed the local consulate however which could be promising. I’ve also been looking into teaching English, although having done quite a lot of that in the past, I’m not sure I’m ready to go back!

[sinbaddio]

You could advertise your services on www.peopleperhour.com and get some freelance jobs.

I've used services off here, but never advertised on there. However an ex colleague of mine has funded a round the world trip by getting freelance gigs through PPH as and when he needs to.

[BoRED S2upid]

How about TEFL. You learn Spanish while teaching English. Win win no?

[Geekman]

sinbaddio said:

You could advertise your services on www.peopleperhour.com and get some freelance jobs.

I've used services off here, but never advertised on there. However an ex colleague of mine has funded a round the world trip by getting freelance gigs through PPH as and when he needs to.

That looks very interesting - thanks!

BoRED S2upid said:

How about TEFL. You learn Spanish while teaching English. Win win no?

I did consider that but I've already done the teaching English abroad thing twice and I'm not sure I'd fancy doing it again. As you say though, it could be good for my Spanish so it's still an option.